Easter and Giveaway Winners

I bet you thought I'd given up blogging at the 1 year mark .... well of course not :) Sorry about a slightly longer absence than usual but we've been busy having a really marvellous Easter holidays, I mean really tippity top. It's been one of those holidays where we've found the perfect balance of going out .... staying in .... doing lots .... and relaxing ..... There really has been much to be thankful for.

.... sweetheart roses - sweet indeed

.... spring greenery from the garden

.... little chocolate eggs from my lovely hubby

.... fun day out at Basildon Park

.... doing their Easter quiz-trail 

... and admiring the beautiful blooms

.... enjoying first crochet in the garden this year

The weather has been fabulous here, I hope it's been as good wherever you are. We've really made the most of it with trips to the park, lots of time in the garden, Little Man and his friends have been out on their bikes and playing nerf-gun wars on the field, and the girls have been trampolining, playing hopscotch, making assault courses, skipping, ..... oh the list of outdoor pursuits goes on and on, its been so lovely to see them having all this wholesome fun :)

Just before Easter I had spotted these little chick beanbags on Pinterest. (http://www.petalstopicots.com/2014/03/crochet-chicken-pattern-little-chick-bean-bag-pattern) I decided to make a whole bunch so we could play beanbag games with them. And of course they had to be rainbow coloured.

I tell you, this is a fab stash-busting project. Each chick is just a rectangle, twice as long as it is wide, then you sew it up at a strange angle, add on some of those red wobbly bits on their heads (should they only be for roosters ??) and some beaks and ta-daaaah ..... little beanbag chickens .....

If you think they are looking rather menacing, you should have seen the first one I made with pointy eyes. Very Angry Birds.

In the absence of a suitable Easter bucket, we stuffed them all in a Halloween pail and took them outside for some beanbag fun.

The homemade beanbag tossy stand thingy was another Pinterest find. Got to love Pinterest, eh ?

Now. After all that jolliness, get our tissues ready for I have a sad little tale to tell you. Little Man and his friend were out on their bikes yesterday and found this little chap at the roadside. They very carfeully carried him home in one of their bike helmets (so proud of them both :) The doorbell rang. "We found a tortoise" they said. "A tortoise?" I said. "Er.....". And so we phoned the vet. And took the tortoise, in a shoebox balanced very carefully on Little Man's lap in the car, to said vet - me, my 3 Little Peeps plus Little Man's friend. Quite an expedition. And so the vet took a look at the tortoise. Which turned out to be a turtle.

"He's very poorly...." said the vet "... very skinny and dehydrated..." he continued. Turns out he is a type of Asian Box Turtle. Aquatic, not native to the UK, difficult to look after, and of high monetry value. Often used for breeding, illegally. And really not in great shape at all. The vet said he would monitor it overnight and call us today with an update. In the meantime we called at a few houses to see if anyone had an escapee turtle (how does that even happen) but in reality I was rather hoping we wouldn't find anyone as I have a suspicion that the poor little turtle was, at best, not being looked after properly, and at worst, had been abandoned.

So the vet called this morning, poor little turtle didn't do well overnight, isn't feeding himself so needs tube-feeding which would need an anaesthetic which would add more stress and trauma....... aaaah bless him :( Vet is going to monitor again tonight but between us we agreed it would be best, if there's no improvement overnight, to put him to sleep :( We, hubby and I, considered giving poor little turtle a home, but we don't think we'd be able to care for him properly. Poor little turtle :(

Phew. Sorry. Bit of a sad ending there. I am supremely proud of my boy and his friend so being so caring, they were so worried and so gentle with poor little turtle.

And onto brighter things. Little Miss helped me to pick the Blog Birthday Giveaway Winners :) 

We wrote out the names, folded them up and plonked them in my button tin. If you're wondering where the buttons are, they are now in jars and sorted according to colour (wee bit OCD ??).

And the lucky winners are ..... Niki Murray - hurray!!! And HouseWithHearts - yippee!!!

I'll be in touch tomorrow ladies to get your contact details :) And then you can await an exciting parcel in the post :)

Enjoy the rest of your Easter hols people - mwah!

xxxxx

Happy Blog 1st Birthday Giveaway

Happy Blog-day to me,

Happy Blog-day to me, 

Happy Blog-day emerald cottaaaaage

Happy Blog-day to me :)

Yes, its a whole year since I started my blog, wow! I can't believe I've actually managed to keep going this long :) Thankyou to everyone who's been reading and/or commenting for a while, and welcome to my new readers too. Its definitely the bloggy love that keeps me coming back to post more. The community of like-minded bloggers is not something I had considered, so blogging fellowship has been a really lovely happy surprise :) I wondered if I would have much to say, if I would get bored, or if anyone would bother to read my waffle. Well, I'm definitely not bored yet, and it would appear that you lot are happy to still be reading, so I count that as a success :)

Stay tuned to the end of this post for the details of a celebratory Giveaway :) Yes! Another one! This time you can win this crochet book, along with some yarn and a hook to make some hooky flowers :)

Hurray :)

I didn't do any kind of end-of-year or 100-post roundup, so I think my 1st year blogiversary seems like an opportune time to reflect back on what's happened, craft-wise, in the emerald cottage over the last 12 months. Take a deep breath and let's dive head first into a year of craft .....

There have been scarves and cowls ....

.... and cowls and scarves ....

.... and cosy mitts ....

Lots of dinky little bags ....

.... and happy bunting ....

Cuddly baby blankets ....

.... and cushions and cosies for home ....

Some crochet creatures ....

.... and Christmassy craft ....

Lots of crochet mini-makes ....

.... and loooooads of non-crochet makes too ....

My goodness! Did I really manage all that lot in a year ??!? You know, it's funny. I am my own harshest critic. I read other blogs, adore other people's creations and sigh with frustration - how much everyone makes! How lovely it all is! How much time I must waste! I ought to get more done! Well, maybe I am not wasting time and maybe I am getting plenty done :) It's been lovely to look back at photos of all these fun projects, and to think about where I made them (at home, on holidays, in the park, on the school run) and who they were for (my Little People, friends, family). To remember the workshops I attended (felting, fused glass, candlemaking) and the friends who came along for the ride! How lucky am I to be able to do all these fun things and then to share them with you.

So in the spirit of this sharing, let's get down to the business of the GiVeAwAy :) I know the last giveaway was quite recent (and I may or may not have got round to posting prizes yet - ho-hum ....) but it doesn't bother me and hopefully doesn't bother you either :) 

Anyway, I recently bought myself a new crochet book (and I do love a good crochet book) "Cute and Easy Crochet with Flowers" by Nicki Trench. It's so lovely, packed full of patterns for flowers to crochet, and imaginative ideas of how to use them. I have 2 extra copies to give away, and so there are two prizes, each comprising a book, some yarn and a hook. Here's that photo again ....

The rules are simple - to enter just leave a comment below, and please include your contact details - purely so I can contact you in the event that you win, I'm not going to start spamming you or anything. The giveaway closes at midnight UK-time on Easter Sunday, that's Sunday 5th April, after which time 2 winners names will be chosen at random (probably with the assistance of a small person). I should point out this is not a sponsored post or anything fancy like that, I just liked the book (ok I confess it was on offer on amazon) and I wanted a lovely prize for my lovely readers.

So what are you waiting for ?! Get commenting, and best of luck!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

ps The actual blog-i-versary was actuallly on Saturday but I've had millions of annoying technical problemettes (the details of which I will not bore you with) but suffice it to say I feel like I have written, rewritten and proof-read this post about 365 (do you see what I did there) times so apologies if it is full of mistakes, I just can't see it properly anymore!

100 Posts Giveaway Winners

Thankyou so much to everyone who entered my 100 Posts Giveaway. What a wonderful response :) There were 27 entries, and I had decided in my head that if it was over 25 then I'd pick two runners-up as well as the main winner.

Naturally such an important task as randomly picking winners required the assistance of a Helper. Little Miss volunteered and she had the genius idea of using her Squinkie (teeny small figures that come in a little clear ball) gum ball machine to pick the winning names. 

I wrote them out and my Helper folded them and put them in their balls. We then jumbled them up and loaded them into the gum ball machine. 

The lights were dimmed, their was an air of suspense and we held our breath as the plastic yellow coin was inserted into the garish pink and purple plastic machine, and the green plastic turny-thing was turned.

Out of the purple plastic door there rolled a clear plastic ball. (Lots of plastic around, eh). We opened it, unfolded the paper and .....

..... the winner is (drum-roll please) ........

..... the very lovely Anne of Crochet Between Two Worlds :) Hurray! Congratulations Anne :)

We repeated the whole exciting coin-inserting-green-twisty-thing-turning drama twice and two more names rolled out .....

Teresa from knitbakecultivate, and Gill :) Hurray hurray!

Helper (Little Miss) then decided it was only fair to personalize the hand-written names by allocating a Squinkie to each ....

If you lovely winners can send me your contact details I'll get your goodies packaged up and sent off. I have a feeling my email on my profile won't let you email me, but give it a try and let me know what happens! Sadly Squinkies are not included as part of the prize package. Bet you're gutted.

Love Jill

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

100 Posts Giveaway

Hurray! I've finally managed to write 100 posts! I can't believe that I've made it this far, I really wanted to try and stick at it, but wasn't sure if I would, or if I could find either the time to write, or the "stuff" to write about. I didn't really have any kind of goal or plan in mind, I just hoped to enjoy a bit of crafting and maybe take some not-too-awful photos as a sort of virtual scrapbook :) As it turns out, I've really loved writing my posts, the desire for my content to be of even mild interest to anyone has opened my eyes to the smaller details of everyday life. Bits and pieces of nature, random happenings at home with my Little People, fun days out. My crafting has definitely increased, and having lots of positive feedback has been amazing. That first morning, the day after my first post, when I saw I had some comments on my was soooooo exciting!

In fact, for me, comments from my lovely readers is the very best bit about blogging. Not because of how lovely the comments are in themselves, it's more the feeling of community that exists, and the (albeit virtual) meeting of kindred spirits. I've made lots of lovely bloggy friends, and had the privilege of discovering so many other wonderful bloggers and their blogs, lots of amazingly creative people, who not only share their knowledge and ideas (and gorgeous photos), but who give their time to read and comment back on my posts. Lovely readers from all over the world, from Iceland to New Zealand everywhere in between. Bloody marvelous isn't it :) Just makes you realize people are people, and what's more are lovely people, the world over. Thankyou to each and everyone of you who've read my posts or left me comments  :)

Now down to business. There's only one way to celebrate 100 posts and that's with a GiVeAwAy .... yippee !!!! I've gathered together a few craft bits and bobs for one lucky winner.

There's a few stationery bits ....

... including one of my fabric covered notebooks (I'm hoping to be selling these soon) ....

.... and a selection of yarny stitchy goodies ....

I made the lined pouch, you could use it to hold pens, glasses, or crochet hooks of course! The yarn is a wool-acrylic mix and there is enough to make a pair of the Ombré Mitts from my last post? And I'll also include a printed copy of the pattern for the mitts (totally bigging it up, it's very easy!). There may be a couple of little extras thrown in too that aren't in the photo :)

There will also be 2 surprise runner-up prizes (surprise because I haven't decided what yet lol).

At this point I'm thinking "I will be so mortified if no one enters, because that will mean everyone thinks it's a load of old tat" ....

Anyway here are the (for want of a better word) rules ....

1. To enter all you have to do is leave a comment below. If you feel like telling me what your favourite emerald cottage post was, that would be lovely.

2. If you mention my blog, and the giveaway, on your own blog, that would also be lovely, and will get you a second chance of winning :) Just make sure you tell me you've done so :)

3. The closing date is midnight next Saturday night, 21st Feb 2015. Midnight my time. (London time!)

4. The winner will be chosen highly scientifically by one of my Little People pulling a name from a hat (this is why there are runners up, I have to allow each child to select a name, otherwise an argument will ensue).

5. Please do make sure to leave some contact details, and in the unlikely event that I can't contact you (after a few tries), should you win, then another name will be chosen.

I think that's it! If there's sufficient interest I may even be tempted to do another giveaway on my first blog birthday which is just round the corner :)

Thankyou all my lovely lovely readers, and Good Luck !!!